As a kid, Brock Saunders would attend Wisconsin International Raceway to watch his stepdad, “Hot Rod” Wheeler, battle on Thursday nights in a late model on the half-mile.

Wheeler was a polarizing figure on the half-mile at WIR – a top shelf, aggressive driver who always had top-notch equipment. Fans either loved him or hated him.

This Thursday night, Wheeler will return to WIR for the races for the first time since he hung up his helmet more than 10 years ago. Wheeler will serve as the crew chief for Saunders as the Appleton driver will wheel his dirt sportmod in the “Pavement Pounder” series on WIR’s quarter-mile, paved oval.

Saunders was at WIR on Tuesday and practiced with his sportmod on the asphalt for the first time.

“It was a whole different world than dirt, that’s for certain,” Saunders said. “Dad was patient with me and it’s about letting off on the throttle more and using a lot less brake than you do on dirt. I wasn’t quite happy with my performance. I’ve got to get through the corners much smoother. But we’ll get there. We spent two hours practicing and we were getting our lap times down a bit before the end.”

Saunders couldn’t ask for a better tutor on how to get around the quarter-mile than his stepdad. Before he became a top wheelman on the half-mile, Wheeler was one tough cookie to beat on the quarter-mile in the 1980s in the sportsman class. Fields of 40 to 50 cars were common. Only 14 made the feature event back then, and that field was set through time trials.

“(Wheeler) was a champion on the quarter-mile and he told me, ‘Don’t drive it like you do on the dirt,’ ” Saunders said. “If you whip it in like we do on dirt, we’re going to be in trouble.”

This season got off to a rough start for Saunders on the dirt. During a feature race in May at Shawano Speedway, Saunders was T-boned by another driver after he had spun.

“The worst part of that crash was that was the first race on that car and it was totaled out,” Saunders said. “It was a brand new Madman chassis. It was junk.”

Within weeks, Brian Mullen at Madman constructed another car for Saunders.

“We’ve got a night on this one and then the practice at WIR and that’s it, so far, for this new car,” said Saunders. “We race Saturdays at Shawano and Sundays at Seymour, but we’ve had a lot of rainouts and cancellations and stuff. We’re anxious to get some racing in.”

When Saunders was old enough to go racing, the International Motor Contest Association sanctioning body was one of the factors that led Saunders and Wheeler to opt for the dirt track route instead of racing asphalt at WIR.

“There is more costs if you wreck a super late model on the half-mile on asphalt, no doubt,” the 24-year-old Saunders said. “But with the sanctioning and the common set of rules, we’ve got enough dirt tracks around here where you can just load up and go. The paved tracks, we’ve got them in Wisconsin but they are pretty much a lot further away from where we live. That’s why we’ve stuck with the dirt tracks.”

Saunders sports No. 5, the same number Wheeler had on his race cars for many seasons.

“Dad was real patient with me in that practice session, so we’ll see how things shake out,” Saunders said. “With the draw/redraw format they’ve got, I’d like to think we’ve got as good a shot as anybody to win that Pavement Pounder deal on Thursday night.”

Saunders has a handful of feature wins in his IMCA northern sportmod, some of them coming at Oshkosh Speedzone, a track that is no longer in existence.

“I really do miss Oshkosh because it wasn’t too far away for us,” Saunders said. “We could get in there, get out and go back to the shop and get ready for Shawano for the next night.”

In addition to Wheeler, Brock’s brother Eric Saunders chips in with the pit crew effort on his team along with his father, Scott Saunders. Appleton Auto Recyclers, MGD Industrial and Special Memories Zoo of Greenville are among the team’s main marketing partners.

Pavement Pounder notebook: Sixteen dirt sportmods will start the 20-lap Pavement Pounder feature. A field of between 18 to 25 drivers is expected. Drivers from several neighboring dirt tracks, including Gravity Park in Chilton, Outagamie Speedway in Seymour, Shawano Speedway, 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, The Hill in Sturgeon Bay, Luxemburg Speedway and Upper Peninsula International Raceway in Escanaba, Michigan, will compete on WIR’s quarter-mile oval.

Last season’s Pavement Pounder winner was Jeff Steenbergen from Waupun. The super stocks will have the night off. The track’s regular show of super late models and late models will still battle on the half-mile. The Wisconsin sport trucks and Sizzlin’ 4s will also race on the quarter-mile, with the Figure 8s wrapping up the night. Qualifying begins at 5:45 p.m., with the first green flag flying at 6:45 p.m.

Do it in the dirt: A pair of WIR late model regulars showed their prowess last Friday night on the dirt at Luxemburg Speedway. Green Bay’s Eddie Muenster, who won the WIR late model feature last Thursday, followed that up with an IMCA modified feature win against a stout field of competitors. Another late model competitor, Brett Wenzel from Two Rivers, pulled off the same feat, winning the A main in the IMCA stock car division.

Oldies but goodies: A pair of seasoned drivers showed the youngsters how it is done last weekend. On Friday night at Norway (Mich.) Speedway, 85-year-old Pete Zarnoth of Brillion captured a heat race win in the Wisconsin sport trucks. On Saturday, 77-year-old Jerry Muenster won an IMCA modified heat race at Shawano Speedway. Both wins were followed up with standing ovations at both speedways and a long chorus of cheers.

Dirt Kings leftovers: Appleton’s Paul Parker placed second at the Battle of the Bay Dirt Kings Tour event at Luxemburg Speedway on Friday. Defending tour champion Nick Anvelink of Bonduel picked up the win. The next Dirt Kings Tour event is June 19 at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek.

Tundra leftovers: Freedom’s Brent Strelka placed fifth in the Bev Aschenbrenner Memorial TUNDRA series race at Marshfield Motor on Saturday. Kaukauna’s Jesse Oudenhoven took ninth, while Darboy’s Jordan Thiel placed 10th. The race was won by Colin Reffner of Wisconsin Rapids. The next TUNDRA series event is July 7 at State Park Speedway in Wausau.